Starting Ability Scores

Races

To create the traditional feel and flavor of the World of Greyhawk, all standard demi-human races (dwarf, elf, halfling, gnome, half-elf and half-orc) that inhabit Greyhawk are allowed for PCs.

The following demi-human races are currently available, with standard PHB adjustments:

Dwarf, Hill

Dwarf, Mountain

Elf, High

Elf, Wood

Gnome, Forest

Gnome, Rock

Halfling, Lightfoot

Halfling, Stout

Half-Elf

Half-Orc

The following human races are available:

Human, Standard (a mix of several races, with no discernible dominant race.)

Human, Baklunish

+1 to Strength, two other abilities

Bonus Feat: Mounted Combat

Bonus Language: Ancient Baklunish

Human, Flan

+1 to Constitution, two other abilities

Proficient in Nature & Survival

+5 foot bonus to speed

Bonus Language: Flan

Human, Oeridian

+1 to Wisdom, two other abilities

Bonus Feat: Savage Attacker

Bonus Language: Old Oeridian

Human, Suloise

+1 to Intelligence, two other abilities

Bonus Feat: Magic Initiate

Bonus Language: Suloise

Races that are currently not available:

Dragonborn

Dwarf, Duergar

Elf, Dark (Drow)

Elf, Gray

Elf, Valley

Elf, Wild (Grugach)

Human, Olman

Human, Rhennee

Human, Touv

Tiefling

Languages

The following are languages that can be learned:

Ancient Baklunish

Common

Draconic

Flan

Dwarvish

Giant

Keolandish

Elvish

Goblin

Old Oeridian

Gnomish

Sylvan

Suloise

Halfling

Undercommon

Orcish

Classes

All of the classes in the Player’s Handbook are available for play.

Cleric Domains

In addition to the domains available in the PHB, you may also choose the domain of Protection.

The gods of protection are gods of defensive strength, an unyielding force that guards against the forces of evil. Sometimes the god of protection is a martial deity, usually male, who stands as the ideal for sentinels and paladins. Other times they are a god of community, often female, who embodies the community’s cohesiveness and responsibility to protect and care for each other.

The Protector entrusts you with the strength and endurance to protect the innocent so that you can become a beacon of hope in a darkened world. You protect the weak from the wicked, and nothing stirs your righteous fury so much as witnessing harm brought to those your god calls you to protect. The most devoted and enlightened followers of the Protector are bulwarks of defense in a violent world. Many seek to take the fight to the enemy, delving into dungeons to root out threats before they can spread. On the edge of civilization, the Protector’s clerics organize defenses, train local militias, and bring justice to a lawless land.

Bonus Proficiency: When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain proficiency with heavy armor.

Holy Guarding: Also starting a 1st level, when a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Divine Shelter: Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to defend one of your allies. When a creature within 25 feet of you takes damage, you may use your reaction to reduce the damage the creature takes by 2d8. If you are at least 11th level, reduce the damage by 4d8 instead.

Blessing of the Protector: At 6th level, you can use your Channel Divinity to create a 30 foot burst of divine energy centered on you that removes the following conditions on all creatures within the burst: blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned and stunned.

Sacred Defense: At 8th level, you and all allies within 30 feet of you gain a +1 bonus to saving throws. When you reach level 14, this bonus becomes +2.

Divine Resistance: At 17th level, you can use your action to allow you and your allies to gain resistance to one damage type for one minute.

Domain Spells: You always have the following spells prepared, provided you are able to cast cleric spells of the given level. They do not count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.

Backgrounds

You may choose the suggested background for your class, or choose any of the backgrounds available in the Player’s Handbook. You must take the skill proficiencies and languages as listed in the backgrounds (unless they are duplicated by your racial selection), but you may choose your own equipment if desired (see the Equipment section below for more details). You should choose a personality trait, ideal, bond and flaw for your character from the lists for each background.

Customizing Backgrounds: You may create your own background for your character, but it must be submitted and approved before you may use it. Use the backgrounds as written in the PHB as both a template and guideline for creating your new background.

Alignment

You may choose any non-evil alignment for your PC. You are not required to choose a deity, however any PC that casts a divine spell must have a deity and the PC’s alignment must be within one step of that deity’s alignment.

Hit Points

At 1st level, your character has 1 Hit Die, and the die type is determined by your class. You start with hit points equal to the highest roll of that die, as indicated in your class description. (You also add your Constitution modifier) This is also your hit point maximum.

Record your character’s hit points on your character sheet. Also record the type of Hit Die your character uses and the number of Hit Dice you have. After you rest, you can spend Hit Dice to regain hit points (see “Resting” in chapter 8).

Starting Equipment

You may choose the suggested equipment listed in class and background descriptions, or you may choose your own equipment. To begin play a PC starts with the maximum total gold pieces funds for their class as listed on page 143 of the PHB.

Additional Equipment: Anything 75 gold pieces or less from the follow tables is available for purchase:

armor

weapons

adventuring gear

tools

mounts and other animals (except camels)

tack, harness & drawn vehicles

waterborne vehicles

trade goods

Home Region

Every player character hails from somewhere, whether it is a specific village or town or simply a country. Every PC must choose a home region from the areas listed on a Greyhawk map. It could be a hamlet or large city, a country, or even a mountain range or forest. This may help or hinder you during an adventure.

Multiclassing

Multiclassing is allowed using the rules on pages 163 – 165 of the Player’s Handbook.

Feats

Feats are allowed using the rules on pages 165 – 170 of the Player’s Handbook. It is possible that other feats may become available in the future.

Character Bonds

To establish the character relationships prior to gameplay we will be using Dungeon World style bonds to help tie the characters together. These will help establish your starting relationship with the other characters and how exactly you relate with them (for better or for worse).

Please create a bond for your character relating to each of the other characters. Here are some example bonds to help get you inspired:

This is not my first adventure with ________.

I sang stories of ________ long before I ever met them in person.

________ is often the butt of my jokes.

I am writing a ballad about the adventures of ________.

________ trusted me with a secret.

________ does not trust me, and for good reason.

________ has insulted my deity; I do not trust them.

________ is a good and faithful person; I trust them implicitly.

________ is in constant danger, I will keep them safe.

I am working on converting ________ to my faith.

________ smells more like prey than a hunter.

The spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows ________.

I have showed ________ a secret rite of the Land.

________ has tasted my blood and I theirs. We are bound by it.

________ owes me their life, whether they admit it or not.

I have sworn to protect ________.

I worry about the ability of ________ to survive in the dungeon.

________ is soft, but I will make them hard like me.

________ ’s misguided behavior endangers their very soul!

________ has stood by me in battle and can be trusted completely.

I respect the beliefs of ________ but hope they will someday see the true way.

________ is a brave soul, I have much to learn from them.

I have guided ________ before and they owe me for it.

________ is a friend of nature, so I will be their friend as well.

________ has no respect for nature, so I have no respect for them.

________ does not understand life in the wild, so I will teach them.

I stole something from ________.

________ has my back when things go wrong.

________ knows incriminating details about me.

________ and I have a con running.

________ will play an important role in the events to come. I have foreseen it!

________ is keeping an important secret from me.

________ is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can.